


Proposal in the Produce Aisle

by expectingtofly



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas and Dean go grocery shopping, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Castiel and Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester are Jack Kline's Parents, Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love, Doctor Sexy M.D. (Supernatural), Domestic Fluff, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sam is a relationship counselor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25882690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/expectingtofly/pseuds/expectingtofly
Summary: While on a case, Cas calls Dean his husband—which is surprising, since he and Dean are not married. Does this mean Cas wants to get married? And, more puzzling, doesDeanwant to get married?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 24
Kudos: 248
Collections: wife guy dean winchester





	Proposal in the Produce Aisle

It all started when Dean and Cas were on a case. The woman they were questioning seemed more interested in Cas than in talking about her dead cousin, and Dean was growing increasingly more annoyed (and a little bit jealous).

He was one second away from grabbing Cas and kissing him in front of the lady, when Cas took his hand and told the woman, “Oh, by the way, this is my husband.” Which threw Dean for a loop. Because he and Cas were only dating, definitely not married. But he brushed it aside because Cas didn’t really mean it; he was only saying it to make this woman back off.

Then, the following week, Jack asked Dean, "When did you and Castiel get married?" and Dean stared at him for a solid ten seconds, waiting for the punchline. But Jack only looked back at him, perfectly serious.

“We’re not married,” Dean finally answered, slowly.

Jack frowned. “Oh. Are you going to get married?”

“I don’t—I... um...” Dean floundered, eventually settling on, “that’s none of your business!” It came out a lot more harshly than he meant it to, but Jack didn’t look offended, only confused.

He seemed about to ask another personal question, so Dean fled the room with a rambling excuse about needing to go on a milk run, they had run out of beer, he hadn’t driven Baby in a while… _Married? What the hell?_

“Settle something for me,” Dean said, barging into the kitchen where Sam sat.

“Fuck my life,” Sam muttered into his coffee cup. He looked up at Dean. “What is it now?”

“Jack thought Cas and I were married.”

Sam stared at him blankly. “Okay.” 

“We’re not.”

“Okay,” Sam said again.

Dean threw up his hands. “Isn’t that weird? Does everyone think we’re married?”

“You do act like an old married couple.” Sam set down his coffee cup. “What’s the big deal, though?”

Dean sat across from him and buried his face in his hands. “Cas called me his husband the other day. Is this an angel thing? Maybe they don’t understand what marriage means.” He lifted his head from his hands. “Right, that’s probably it. I’ll sit them down and explain.”

“Or,” Sam suggested, “You and Cas can just get married already.”

“Not helpful.”

“Well, why not? You’ve been together for forever.”

“Why not? Because…” Dean racked his brain. “Because I don’t want to get married. I’m not going to be some old married sonuva—”

“Does Cas want to get married?”

“I don’t know! We don’t talk about this shit.”

“Well, there’s your first problem.” Sam stood and clapped Dean on the shoulder. “Looks like you and Cas need to talk.”

_Again_ , Dean thought, _not helpful._

But Sam’s words rolled around in his head all day, and Dean couldn’t help watching Cas, trying to remember if Cas had ever shown an interest in getting married, if he’d ever dropped a hint that he wanted Dean to propose.

He was pretty sure Cas had done none of those things, which should’ve been reassuring. But now there was another question gnawing at him: Did _he_ want to marry Cas?

They _had_ been together for several years; maybe marriage was the next step. And Dean couldn’t deny he’d felt a secret satisfaction hearing Cas call him his husband and having Jack assume they were married. Despite what he’d told Sam, he wasn’t that opposed to getting married. Not to the right person. And he was pretty certain he’d never find anyone more right for him than Cas.

He had to find a way to broach the subject, but he couldn’t just ask out of the blue, _hey, Cas, wanna get married?_ He had to first determine whether marriage was even something that had ever crossed Cas’ mind. Which meant strategic, vague questioning.

He put his plan into action one night while he and Cas sat in the Dean Cave, watching _Dr. Sexy, M.D_. Well, he was watching _Dr. Sexy_. Cas was engrossed in a book about… Dean glanced at the title. _Growing and Propagating Wild Flowers._ Never in a million years would he have ever thought his life would come to this—dating not only an angel, but an angel interested in gardening. Even stranger, the way both of those features were now incredibly sexy to him since they made up Cas. 

Sliding closer to his angel boyfriend, he bumped their shoulders together, and, absentmindedly, Cas pulled a hand from his book and placed it on Dean’s thigh. Much as Dean now wanted to interlace their fingers, lean over and kiss the soft, warm skin under Cas’ ear, it was time to bring up the topic pinging around in his brain.

He cleared his throat, “Um, funny how the characters in this show never get married.” He glanced sideways at Cas. 

Cas shrugged, turning a page before answering. “Funny.”

Looks like he was going to have to be a little more straightforward. “You ever think Sam will get married?”

Cas looked up at him. “To Eileen?” Tilting his head, he stared off into the distance thoughtfully, then nodded. “I hope so. I think that would be good for him.”

Dean nodded and Cas looked back down at his book, conversation over.

_For fuck’s sake,_ Dean thought.

Edging closer to the truth, he said, “I always told Sam I didn’t see much point in being married. Ya know, being a hunter and all. Never saw myself settling down.” That wasn’t quite what he wanted to say. What he meant was that he’d never thought he _could_ get married, not with the life he lived. He’d never dreamed he could be this happy. Now he’d found someone who made both of those things possible.

“I never thought much about marriage when I was in Heaven.” Cas didn’t look up from his book. “Angels don’t get married to each other.”

“Oh.” Dean looked back at the TV. _Well, fuck._ That said it all, didn’t it? Cas was an angel; he didn’t understand human practices like marriage. It didn’t mean anything to him. Dean didn’t know why he felt disappointed—he had his answer, and now he didn’t have to worry that Cas was secretly waiting for a proposal.

“Why all this talk about marriage?”

Dean startled. “What?” He realized Cas was studying him. “Uh, I don’t know. No reason, it was just a random thought. I hope Sam gets married too.”

“Oh,” Cas said. “Alright.” Was that disappointment in his tone? But Cas didn’t say anything else and Dean dismissed the idea.

_There,_ he thought, _we did the talking, Sam. Got everything sorted out._

A week later, he was pushing a cart through the grocery store, following Cas who was scanning the produce aisle for the obscure vegetables Sam had requested. 

“I think it would be much more sustainable if we grew our own produce,” Cas said, pausing to grab a head of lettuce. He scanned the row of vegetables. “Where are the rutabagas?”

“I have no idea. I don’t even know what that is.” 

“Oh, well.” Continuing down the aisle, Cas launched into an explanation of rutabagas—how they were grown, methods of cooking—all incredibly in-depth considering he couldn’t even taste food, and Dean pushed the cart after him, finding himself paying attention even though he had never once been interested in vegetables. 

While grocery shopping was Cas’ weekly chore, Dean had taken to accompanying him, telling Sam that someone needed to keep Cas in check—the angel could spend hours at the grocery store, coming home with obscure items not on their list just because he thought they looked interesting. But, in truth, grocery shopping had become Dean’s favorite part of the week. Watching Cas compare prices, squint at the items Jack scrawled at the bottom of the list, choose between two oranges as if it was a life or death decision. He smiled now, watching Cas snatch up what Dean was assuming was a rutabaga, and triumphantly hold it in the air. 

Maybe because choosing vegetables was so decidedly banal and normal compared to their usual end-of-the-world lives, and he needed a break. Maybe because he liked spending time with Cas outside of killing monsters and saving the world. Maybe because he just liked being with Cas.

Halting in front of a row of apples, Cas asked, “Why are there so many varieties? Do they really taste so different?”

“Um, maybe?” Dean picked up a bright red one, then dropped it back on top of the others. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever tried that many.” 

“Dean, if I could taste food, I would try everything.” Cas grabbed a produce bag. “We should get one of every kind and then you can decide which is your favorite.”

He began grabbing apples and stuffing them into the bag, continuing to talk about the garden they should plant—which would now include, apparently, an orchard of apple trees—and suddenly, it hit Dean just how in love he was with this earnest, dorky angel. And suddenly, _I love you_ didn’t seem enough to express how much he wanted, needed, to have Cas by his side forever.

“Will you marry me?” Dean blurted out, interrupting Cas’ garden plans. 

Cas looked up at him, hand stretched out to grab a green apple, surprise on his face. Dean's face heated. He had never considered himself a romantic person by any means, but proposing in the produce aisle was a new low.

“You want to get married?” Cas asked slowly.

Dean nodded and realized it was true, he did very much want to marry Cas. He hadn’t been entirely sure before, but now he was completely certain. Which meant his heart was pounding as he worried Cas would say no.

“Dammit, Dean!” Cas dropped the bag of apples into the grocery cart with a bruising clang. Dean startled. Not the reaction he was expecting. “I wanted to propose to you!”

Not the answer he was expecting either.

“W-what?” he stammered.

“I didn’t think you’d want to get married, because when I called you my husband that one time you looked so shocked. And then I overheard you talking to Jack, but you were _extremely_ cryptic about getting married one day, so I asked Sam, and he said you were wondering if _I_ wanted to get married, so I thought maybe there was a chance, but you never brought it up. I thought I might just propose to you anyway, but now you’ve done it first!” He took a deep breath, his spiel ended, and Dean’s brain spun, trying to catch up. 

He moved aside to let someone grab a bunch of bananas. So Cas had wanted, but Dean had acted… “I thought you wouldn’t want to get married because you’re an angel.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw their fellow shopper give them an odd look.

“I live on Earth now,” Cas said. “I ride in cars and eat food. And I’m dating a human.” The shopper looked full on worried now, and she pushed her cart away hurriedly. “Why would you think marriage is where I draw the line at human practices?”

“Right,” Dean said, letting out a breath of laughter. He shook his head. “You were asking Sam? Why didn’t you just ask me if I wanted to get married?”

“Why didn’t you ask me?”

_Fuck, Sam was right._ “We’re shit at communicating.” 

“Yes,” Cas said, smiling. “But will you marry me?”

“You haven’t answered my proposal yet.”

“No, you first.”

“Yes,” Dean said without hesitation.

“Yes,” Cas said. Pushing the shopping cart aside, Dean grabbed him and kissed him. Absently, he thought he heard the cart bump into a display and knock something over, but he was more occupied with the way Cas was whispering “I love you” in between kisses.

On second thought, proposing and kissing in the produce aisle might be the most romantic thing he’d ever done.

Pulling away to look at Cas, he said, “I didn’t get you a ring, I wasn’t expecting to do this right now.”

“Me neither,” Cas said. 

“Sorry I ruined your proposal.”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” Cas wrapped his arms around Dean’s neck and smiled up at him. “This is perfect.”

Dean shook his head because somehow he’d ended up engaged to the easiest to please angel, but that thought made his chest warm. _Engaged._

He pulled Cas’ arms from around his neck, lacing their fingers together. “Come on, fiance. Let’s hurry up and get home so we can tell Sam and Jack.” Looking for their cart, he saw it had knocked down a display of salad dressings. “Oops.”

Cas snapped his fingers and, in a blink, the display was back to normal. “And so we can have engagement sex,” he clarified.

“Exactly.” Dean kissed Cas again. “And that is why I’m marrying you.”

“Because I know you too well?”

“Because you’re perfect.” 

Cas beamed at him. “You’re perfect too. Fiance,” he added.

Dean kissed Cas again, and then Cas was pushing the cart down the aisle, telling him they still had thirteen things on their list, so hurry up, and Dean couldn’t stop smiling because he was going to get married. 

“Let’s go, fiance,” Cas called.

Dean followed him. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you call me that.”

**Author's Note:**

> (Sam and Jack get very tired, very quickly of hearing the word fiance)
> 
> thank you for reading this very fluffy, very sappy fic :) comments are always appreciated, and you can check out my tumblr [here](https://expectingtofly.tumblr.com/) :)


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